kahomni

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 13 Jul 2004, "Alfred W. Tüting" wrote:
> Also, the part _ho-_ seems to refer to the idea of 'round/circle'
> (Buechel: ho- - It makes them refer to a circle of camps] with quite
> some examples)

That's true.  I hadn't thought of this.  This is at least a Mississippi
Valley Siouan set, and was included in the CSD.  For example, Omaha-Ponca
has hu(u)'dhuga 'camp circle'.  The second part -dhuga is apparently a
locative of sorts < *=roka 'in the middle of', as far as I can recall at
the moment.  Note that *o > u in OP.  The root *ho is found elsewhere in
other MVS languages, as is the locative extension *=roka, though not
generally in conjunction with each other.

> I wonder if the different words _ho_ (voice, fish) are just homophones
> or etymologically connected in some way.

I think just homophones *ho (1) 'fish', *ho (2) 'voice', *ho (3) 'circle'.

It seems to me that the usual analyses of hoo-c^aNk, etc., 'Winnebago' in
terms of 'big voice' and 'big fish' make less sense than 'big-(camp)
circle', which strikes me as an excellent village name - and village names
are likely sources of ethnic names.  However, since *ho (3) isn't attested
in Winnebago, this alternative has only been considered, or even occurred
to anyone, in the context of the CSD project.

> Same with the part _mni_ (above): Apart from its meaning 'water', it
> seems to refer to smth 'round/spinning' etc. too, cf. Buechel:
> mnic^a'tomni - windmill (!)
> mni'c^iyA - to assemble e.g a feast; to make a feast or call an assembly
> (-> camp circle?)

There's a PS or at least PMVS stem *priN having to do with roundness.  It
occurs in extended form as *pepriN.  These come out mni, pemni in Dakotan,
or bdhiN, bebdhiN in Omaha-Ponca.  I don't recall the sense of the
extended forms at the moment.  I think this is just homophonous with *priN
'water'.  Of course, outside of Dakotan the nominal *priN and the verbal
*priN take different phonological courses, cf., OP niN vs. -bdhiN.